I have not been able to stop thinking about this book since I put it down. I’m obsessed with Julie Soto’s work and this book just added fuel to that fire. If you are someone who reads YA thrillers and are looking for one to read, something to bring you out of a slump, something to keep you hooked, something to keep you engaged and also have you kicking your feet giggling sometimes (I sure did).

This was so so interesting. I loved the premise, I was so absorbed by the storytelling and narrative style, I loved loved loved the characters. They’re flawed but so real and so interesting. I loved The Thrashers, I loved their friendship and all of the intricacies of their relationships.

I loved reading through Jodi’s perspective. It was so interesting to see how her teenage brain received her vs. how she was being perceived by all the people around her. She was also such a beautifully complicated character and so well written.

I was reading this any chance that I got, I almost missed my bus stop because I couldn’t tear my eyes from the screen. Im OBSESSED. I thought it was such a unique way to write a thriller, it really did keep me second guessing what was really going on. Truly solidified that I love morally gray characters, they feel so real. It had me DOWN BAD rooting and shipping certain characters. I’m BEGGING for more, I need it, after that EPILOGUE (I’m gagged), I’m foaming at the mouth for more, there better be more there’s no way that was the real end.

ANYWAY, SO GOOD, please please go read this I need people to talk to about this book.

The Thrashers was one of those thriller/mysterious element books that I high fived myself after listening because I guessed some details correctly. I was IMMERSED in the story with the quick pacing and witty one liners. I'd love to see a sequel....the door is open for it.


There are some unsettling themes (the book starts off with a female committing suicide in her bath tub) that should have been included at the beginning before reading.

4/5

The Thrashers is the third book I've read by Julie Soto and I went in blind knowing this was her YA debut. I didn't know what to expect but wow, just wow. It's different from Julie's other books but I absolutely loved it. This book was so many things at once (in a good way). It had
- Mystery
- Paranormal
- LOTS of drama (It felt like I was watching a toxic reality show)
- Suspense

There is bullying and other heavy topics in the book so please check out the TWs! There were definitely parts where I needed to pause for a breather. While I enjoyed the book, I'm not too sure I liked the direction of the last 1/3, including the ending. I heard there might be a sequel so hopefully we get more details!!

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for providing the arc in exchange for a honest review. All opinions are my own.

4.5⭐️

Thank you @wednesdaybooks for the PR package and @macmillan.audio for the audio edition . ♡₊˚⊹

👯‍♀️ Jodi is part of the cool kids club, aka “the thrashers,” the fantastic five-some that everyone wants to sit next to at lunch. But now a girl has committed suicide and her journal implicates the thrashers.

🪦 Additionally, Jodi seems to be haunting them from beyond the grave. Or is it just coincidence that lights are flickering, dreams are nightmares, and anonymous texts are incoming?

💟 For anyone who loved Heathers (the original Mean Girls movie, est. 1989), you need to read this book! I loved the characters and how they are all morally ambiguous (some more black than grey). Team Julian!

📓 Bottom line this was such a fun read. It brought me back to high school cliques and all that angst + turmoil. Very bingeable but also worth reading for the deeper underlying themes.

▶︎ •၊၊||၊|။||||။‌‌‌‌‌၊|• 🎧 Eva Kaminsky and Jesse Vilinsky on audio were amazing! Definitely recommend the audio for this one, tormented teens and valley girl drama!

TW: suicide, depression, bullying, child abuse, alcoholism

I REALLY wanted to love this one yall. I REALLY really did because I LOVE Julie, but this book was SUCH a challenge for me. DNF @ 40%. I am all about teen dramas and mystery/thrillers, but I had a REALLY hard time with the bullying in this one. It just was WAY too toxic for me to read comfortably. I didn't feel like I was adequately warned about the amount of heavy topics that would be discussed.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was a pretty fun YA thriller. It was a slow burn, semi-uneventful one, but it did hold my attention. It moved along quickly even though it wasn't as twisty as some of the other thrillers I've read. I didn't really like or care about any of the characters in this one, but I think that was kind of the point. It addresses some issues that are probably timely for teens today, so it was good in that sense.

I read an ARC of this book from NetGalley. All comments are my own.

I really liked this one. This was a perfect YA thriller debut. It was fast paced and so much fun to read. I absolutely loved loved loved the characters, Julian and Jodi. My absolute favorite. I definitely am needing more of them! If you are looking for a great thriller to read this summer, this is it.
Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press/Wednesday Books for the ARC.

Soto can seriously write any and all genres!! This was such a fun read! Fast-paced, likable characters, twists, betrayal and revenge all wrapped up in a YA suspense mystery book! Seriously I read this within 24 hours! This will be a great addition to your shelves!

I had a really hard time rating this book. I (more than) love Julie Soto’s other books. I mean instant-flip-back-open-to-the-first-page-and-reread kinda loved. That being said this book was super well written and well thought out. I couldn’t stop reading, and as I got to about 95% I started to get disappointed because I knew there was no way to get to an ending I was happy with with so little left to go.

What I loved: she writes well. The characters are so fully formed and real to me, the story is gripping, and there’s a depth to the main characters (to me that’s Jodi, Julian, and Emily) that makes you both like and hate them each, but while your contempt for Emily grows, your sympathy for Julian does too, and it flips back and forth so often with Jodi.

What I didn’t like: well I guess no one said this would have a happy ending. It doesn’t. It’s interesting and complicated but left me feeling unsatisfied. So opposite from her other books. I thought the eternal haunting of Julian was interesting but not the way Julian and Jodi’s story ended. I also think Emily’s plan should have been ousted and not just left to haunt the reader. I hate that Zach…ugh I don’t know…what did he do? Play with Jodi’s feelings? Tried to manipulate her at the end? Sleep with Emily… just all of that. He was loathsome at the end and I’m not entirely sure that was the intent.

I don’t know, it’s hard to rate because in the end it fell flat for me but that’s not to say it was poorly written, just that maybe it’s not the right book for me.

My first Julie Soto book did not disappoint. This is a dark, twisty thrill ride full of secrets, privilege, and messy high school dynamics. This book is a perfect example of a YA thriller done right. Jodi Dillon gets pulled into an elite friend group where power rules—until a classmate dies and everything unravels. And the ending!! Oh my gosh, that blew my mind. Loved this one! This gave 𝘔𝘦𝘢𝘯 𝘎𝘪𝘳𝘭𝘴 meets 𝘗𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘺 𝘓𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘓𝘪𝘢𝘳𝘴 energy with a haunting edge.

Thank you @wednesdaybooks for the ARC!

Zack Thrasher (the group’s namesake), Lucy Reed, Paige Montgomery, and Julian Hollister and Jodi Dillon are the high school royalty known as the Thrasers. Few are welcomed to join this group. Emily Mills’ goal Was to be one of them. She wouldn’t stop trying to become a member. Emily hung around Jodi the most who she asked many questions on ho to become one of them. Emily is found dead due driven to suicide on the evening of prom. Rumors are circulated around school that she was “Thrashed”—socially ostracized—for trying to join the group. Everything starts to unravel after the police find Emily’s journal telling how she was bullied by all of them—except Jodi, who rebuffed her. Was it suicide or murder? Jodi feels compelled to seek the truth surrounding Emily’s death without implicating her friends, but the more she learns, the more she doubts them. What will Jodi find out?

The novel’s pacing contributes to the tension as strange and terrifying incidents occur. I felt and empathized with Jodi being kept in suspense throughout the novel. The author writes about the friendships that are toxic without realizing it for the harm it does. The author shows the results of trauma, backstabbing, social hierarchies and bullying that is often overlooked by teenagers—to them, it is just normal. It is dark and full of drama.

HO.
LY.
S#!T.
I need more NOW. Pronto. That's the entirety of my review. Julie Soto, please publish more now. Or just sit down and tell me what happens next. Msg me, I'll clear my schedule.

Seriously the strings between what is real, what is manipulated, what is covered up, are woven so tightly it's hard to know what's what. And I'm a reader that can usually sniff out the twists and turns pretty easily. Simplified breakdown: The IT crowd and what they can do to the "outsiders" but with dangerous consequences for all of them.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for sending me a copy of this book to review.

This was a amazing thriller novel, and I enjoyed it a lot. I am looking forward to reading more by this author.

I’m truly not sure what I was expecting when I picked up 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝘀𝗵𝗲𝗿𝘀 but let’s just say I binge-read it and now I’m left wondering where to go to recreate the twisty YA thriller vibes Julie Soto so wonderfully wrote! This story encompasses a lot, and I’m trying to write a review that won’t give away too much of the plot…so if you want all the unreliable, mystery-filled, twisty school clique vibes, with a hint of what could be paranormal elements…
This one is a must! It’s hard to put down once you’ve started the book, and I loved the Pretty Little Liars vibes that were present throughout! I really would recommend this one, but make sure to check the CW first as there are some serious elements covered!

I haven't been loving YA books lately but this on hooked me right from the start. It was so smart and entertaining and the characters were great. the mystery was very compelling and I really like how it ended.

This is a socially relevant young adult thriller than was fast paced and an enjoyable read! All about a nickname given to a group of high schoolers, and a tragic event that shapes them all.

Thrashers by Julie Soto

4 stars
352 Pages
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press, Wednesday Books
Release Date: May 6, 2025

Fiction, Teens, Young Adult, Mystery, Thriller, Suicide, Relationships, Peer Pressure, Obession

Emily commits suicide on prom night. The police come into possession of Emily’s journal. They believe she took her own life because she was bullied by the Thrashers. The Thrashers is the name other students give to a group of seniors led by Zack Thrasher. The others in the group are Jullian, Paige, Lucy, and Jodi. During the police investigation, everyone except Jodi is set to be arraigned for bullying charges. Jodi only receives a subpoena which makes the others suspicious thinking she is throwing them under the bus. Everyone knows when they are finished using someone, the person is thrashed.

The story has a steady pace, the characters are developed, and it is written in the third person point of view. Bullying is a difficult subject to discuss and when you add obsession, it makes it more disturbing. If you like stories about high school and peer pressure, you may enjoy reading this book.

Julie Soto is an auto-buy author for me and for good reason!

Her stories are so captivating and "The Thrashers" is no different. I was so excited to see that she was going to tackle YA thriller and I feel that she did so expertly.

"The Thrashers" had plenty of twists and turns to keep readers guessing and I really appreciated that.

Thank you to Wednesday Books for selecting me for this ARC.

This was such a refreshing surprise from Julie! I’ve read her romance books and loved them, so I shouldn't be surprised that I really enjoyed this. It’s definitely different from her usual writing, but in the best way. The supernatural elements added such a cool twist, and the whole story had a dark, eerie vibe that totally pulled me in. I loved not knowing what would happen next. It kept me at the edge of my seat the entire time. Even though the tone and style were a departure from her earlier work, it was still so well written. Julie knows how to build characters and atmosphere, and she brought those strengths into this book in a completely new way. I wasn’t sure how I’d feel about her stepping into something darker, but I’m so glad I gave it a chance. Definitely a strong, spooky read that’s perfect when you want something a little different.

I'm a big fan of Julie Soto's romance books, so I was excited to hear she was coming out with a YA thriller and jumped at the chance to read it.

This book had me on the edge of my seat and trying to guess what the heck was going on. I really enjoyed it. My only complaint is that it felt open-ended, and kinda ended on a cliffhanger, but I don't think there are any plans for it to be a series. If so, great, I'll continue to read it, but if not, it's a bit of a letdown.

Thank you to Forever (Grand Central) Publishing and NetGalley. I voluntarily read an early copy of this book.